Forgotten Memoirs
by Keakun
Summary: Memories consume everything, body, heart and soul. Overcoming them is the only thing left to do. KakaIru
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of their characters.  
Rated M: For mature content.

Forgotten Memoirs - Decent

Sharingan

Rocks fell from the sky, a cave in, threatening to extinguish all life that was beneath its descent. Three youths were caught in the landscapes downfall. They all ran for their lives, adrenaline pumping into their systems, nothing but getting out of the death trap on their minds.

This thought was disrupted as one of the fleeing shinobi was struck by a falling rock. Not only did this disorder their escape, it also distressed the other two youths. The one who was clobbered by the debris happened to be the best in their cell. How would they make it out alive if their leader couldn't? They both asked themselves in doubt.

In-between all of this carnage, one single thought flared in defiance:

"I will not let him die!"

Flinging himself into the fray of the wreckage, the inspired youth used his newly attained eyesight to dodge the rocks directly in his path. Weaving in and out of harms way felt easy to the youth, now that he had his new eyes. The young ninja was finally able to look at himself with contentment, because he now knew what it meant to be part of his clan. The infamous Uchiha of Konoha, the elite of the hidden village of the leafs.

With this realization, he also attained on the importance of what he was doing now, before he was selfish, he wanted nothing but to gain strength to prove himself to others. However, that had changed, now he wanted to use his strength to protect the people who meant something, those who he valued. In seconds everything came crashing down.

A grayed haired youth gazed at the dust as it began to settle, his posture transfixed in terror. Hoping beyond all reason that the person he knew was dead would pop out into the clearing unscathed. However, in his gut he could tell that his companion's life was already slipping.

His other teammate was at his side immediately. Her body was shaking so nervously he could feel her from a few feet away. That trembling turned into one of sorrow, and of heart break.

The dust cleared and he could finally see what had happened to the person who he hated the most and cherished at the same time.

"Obito," he trembled to the youth who was crushed by the rocks, "You…idiot!" he yelled, "You said that not following the rules was stupid, and that people who didn't care about their companions were trash!" The youth sunk to his knees and slammed his fists into the ground in pure frustration.

"Kakashi…" The female ninja started, but stopped from the lack of words.

"And…if I had followed your plan from the beginning…all of this could have been avoided!" Kakashi was on the verge of losing it, but didn't. The ideals of the shinobi, that one must never show his emotions in combat; that the mission came before your emotions was ingrained into him. Yet when he looked at his companion's now mutilated body, the mission could go to hell.

"Damn it!" He shouted in frustration, "This is all my fault…what kind of Shinobi am I?"

"No Kakashi….it's ok," Obito coughed from under the giant boulder, "It's alright," he continued.

"Why…did this have to happen?" the Kunoichi asked herself, a silent moment passed as the unanswered questions repeated itself in the young shinobi's minds.

"Kakashi…I've been thinking" Obito said, breaking the silence. "I'm the only one who didn't give you a gift at your Jounin celebration right?" He paused as his companions stared at him in mute shock.

"Don't worry, it's not something like useless trash," Obito said, forming his own conclusion from the weird glares he was receiving.

"You see Kakashi, I would like to give you the Sharingan from my left eye," Obito scarcely heard the Jounin swear, and the Kunoichi sniffle from her impending tears.

"Rin," He directed his voice to the Kunoichi, "Please use your medical ninjutsu to transplant this eye into Kakashi."

When the medical ninja did not move, instead choosing to cry in earnest, Obito became impatient with her for the first time since becoming a Genin-Chunin team.

"Really I don't mind," He said as loudly as his torn body could manage, "Kakashi…I bet all the villagers are saying what a great Jounin you will become, I'd like to see that."

Taking the hint, Rin started preparing the necessary items as she pulled Kakashi to Obito's body. Silently working on the operation she knew would haunt her as long as her heart beat pulsed strong.

Within minutes after the end of the procedure, Obito began his pleading for his teammates to leave his body. All three knew that the Stone ninja who caused all of this was on his way to check for any survivors. However, two of the three shinobi didn't care about said Stone ninja.

Whether they cared or not didn't seem to bother the enemy shinobi. A series of rapid seals were formed and another Doton based ninjutsu was released onto the young ninja's of Konoha. His previous attack only entrapping one of the brats, however; his grin was now apparent. He obviously thought that the other two would not escape his new assault, and die just the same. He only realized his mistake as he felt a well aimed palm touch his chest, his whole body tingled. Then he could feel nothing, like the Konoha ninja buried under the earth.

A sharp pang to the forehead and the Jounin was instantly brought out of the memory induced trance. 'Someone just flicked my forehead…he's going to lose that finger' he mildly thought. And here he was, lying down on the Hogake monument, enjoying the last moments of the day, minding his own business at that.

He wasn't all together happy about the fact of being caught off guard while remembering his friends, even if it did make him rather unhappy. Also, he wasn't happy at being disturbed so easily, usually no one was able to sneak up on him.

Speaking of which, who in Konoha had the nerve to disrupt his sleep. He'd put a kunai through other people's throats for lesser reasons than disturbing his rest. Can one really blame a 10 year old Chuunin for being cranky, sleep deprived, and in the middle of a battle field?

Opening his eyes revealed one of the academy teachers. A specific teacher that seemed to have wormed his way into the Jounin's life.

"You're getting rusty in your old age," The seemingly all around brown Chuunin exclaimed.

"Have you ever considered that you're getting better?" Kakashi said with a frown. The slight blush on the other's cheek prompted the Jounin to reconsider what he was about to let slip, however the other Chuunin did disrupt his resting… "Nah! Couldn't be, after all, you still can't seem to get laid!" The elder of the two dead panned.

Iruka, who was not expecting that come back simply did the first thing that came to his mind, beat the crap out of Kakashi.

"Kakashi, you bastard!" Iruka shouted, and the battle commenced.

Kakashi, being the level of ninja that he was, ended the fight in a matter of minutes. A victorious Jounin now sat on top of a flustered Chuunin.

"I win," he said lazily to the man under him.

"Yeah well…you're still a bastard." Iruka said a grumpiness edge in his voice.

"You know Iruka, you sound just like Naruto," Kakashi said after taking a moment to consider the likeness. He was still sitting on the other man mind you.

Like someone saying something completely inappropriate, and the group becoming completely silent. The two ninja's stopped their bickering, their minds going to the number one unpredictable ninja known as Uzumaki Naruto.

Two years had passed since Naruto had officially started his apprenticeship with the legendary Sannin: Jiraiya. There were many people who missed the young ninja, but none of them seemed to compare to the two who were on top of the Hokage monument, acting like children to say the least. The third person who would normally miss the eccentric blond was currently under going her own training with a Sannin.

"I wonder where he is," Kakashi thought out loud, to no one in particular. Iruka heard him all the same.

Iruka stared at the Jounin, after squirming out of their positions so they could have a proper conversation. He gazed at the Jounin, wondering if the other was trying to make a light discussion after their awkward silence from before. However, once he got a look into the copy-ninja's revealed eye, he could see that Kakashi was lost in his own world. A world of grief, sadness, or just his habit of being bored, the teacher could not tell.

"Where ever he is, I bet he's causing hell for Jiraiya," Iruka mused.

Kakashi hummed a bit as he ran the thought through his mind, remaining silent as he watched the sun set on the village known as Konoha. Thoughts about his subordinate often led to thoughts of his other student. The Sharingan heir, self proclaimed Avenger, and the one who betrayed his village, Uchiha Sasuke.

Thoughts about the two of his students often led to reflections about how powerless he had been on the events of their young shinobi lives. This led him to believe that his own incompetence as a teacher had forced his third student to seek tutelage from Tsunade. In fact, all of his students seemed to think that the great Sharingan Kakashi was so inadequate to give them power, they decided to get said power from other sources. All in all, this type of thinking was very depressing for the ninja.

Iruka could just see the waves of depression radiate from the Jounin. Iruka, being the caring individual that he is, couldn't help but feel that it was his fault that a black cloud of depression now hung over his companion.

"Kakashi, you there?" Iruka asked, trying to snap the other out of his melancholy state. Without the silver haired man answering, Iruka stood up and calmly walked over to the other. Using all his Taijutsu skills he could muster, he was dealing with a depressed Jounin after all, Iruka smacked the back of Kakashi's head firmly, but not hard.

"What the…?" The Jounin rounded on the younger man, glaring at him with all his formidable intimidation skills he could summon.

"That's twice today Kakashi, you really are losing your touch," Iruka playfully mocked, he ignored the death glowers he was receiving, "If you like, we could go out for dinner."

Kakashi stared, staring seemed to be his only communication tool at that moment.

"To you know, talk about our students," Iruka quickly said, trying to cover up the blush that was seeping onto his face.

"It's not Ichiraku, is it?" Kakashi asked from where he was sitting.

Iruka grinned as he offered his hand to help the other up, "You'll see," was all he said.

Two hours later, a pair of overly stuffed ninja's maid their way out of a Yakiniku bar.

"I haven't eaten so much food since I became a Genin," Kakashi mused, as he and his Chuunin companion staggered through the street.

"I don't know how you managed to eat so much, without ever having to remove you mask," Iruka whined, the disappointment of not being able to see the other's face apparent.

"Eating with this thing is easy," Kakashi responded, his visible eye closing into a grin.

The grin disappeared as a loud bird call screeched through the night. There was only one reason why a bird of that species was out during the night, and that was to summon ninjas, in this specific case, that ninja happened to be Kakashi.

The Silver haired shinobi was about to run off to answer the summon, when the bird let out another screech. Kakashi looked a little surprised while his companion gawked.

"Why would the Hogake need to see me?"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters or its story line, I just obsess over it.

Rated M: for mature content.

A/N: I forgot to add this in the first chapter because I'm noob. There are spoilers to the Kakashi Gaiden, and possibly further. I'm sorry this wasn't in the first chapter, please forgive me, I didn't mean to. Also, since FF dot net does not like the asterisk separators please be aware that there is a break in between the memory sequence and present time in the first chapter. Any feedback is highly appreciated. Thank you, and now on to the fic.

Forgotten Memoirs ch2 – Reunion 

After the Mission

Kakashi groggily opened his eyes. The young boy's brain hurt, his body hurt, and he could swear even his spleen hurt.

Taking in his surroundings, the first thing he saw was the obsidian darkness that came with the night. His mind turned to panic, because the last thing he remembered was being surrounded by enemy ninja, his body flaring in pain as he summoned chakra to his hand.

He remembered the vague sensation of a kunai leaving his hand, seeing it lodge itself cleanly into a stone ninja's throat. The chirping sounds of his Raikiri coming into place, then darkness. Utter and complete.

Everything was peaceful, compared to the harshness that had only transpired what seemed to be seconds ago.

"Am I dead?" Kakashi groaned out. Something came to rest on his head. The familiar presence of the person who knew him best filled the area. The fleeting comfort disappearing in an instant as the youth remembered where he was last.

"The enemy!" Kakashi shouted as he sprang up, all the notion of staying alive rushing into him.

"I took care of them," The deep familiar voice said beside him. The image of his sensei finally locked onto place as his vision focused in the moonlight. "The kunai I gave to you had a special Jutsu connected to it, I was immediately alerted to when it was thrown."

"Sensei…" Kakashi started, "Where's Rin?" He asked in a panic, remembering that he would fulfill his promise to his teammate no matter the consequence.

"She's fine, and she's safe," The blond Jounin said, pointing towards the Kunoichi in question, "I heard it all from Rin."

Kakashi stared in the direction that his Sensei pointed to, his panic level dropping as he observed his teammate. Obito, in all his musing, would have thought Rin was beautiful in the moonlight. At that thought, Kakashi could feel his left eye, his friend's left eye, start to tear up.

"I did this," He squeaked out, trying his best to use the most neutral tone that he could, knowing full well that emotion was running rampant in him.

The young shinobi's sensei also knew of the emotion coming out of his young charge, his hand gently ruffling the boy's unruly hair, as if to comfort him. "I'm sorry Kakashi that this happened, that I was unable to help." The older man stated truthfully.

"The mission given to us was my responsibility," Kakashi chocked out, his Sharigan letting tears flow freely out of it, "I am the one to blame."

The one known as Konoha's Yellow Flash, stared at his pupil. So obviously upset, because he had never seen his student cry, not since the elder Hatake had passed away. Crying was crying, even if it was only coming out of one eye.

"Kakashi…you have to understand that these things happen, it doesn't help that we're in a war, but it's one of the risks that comes with being a ninja." He said, hoping his words were getting to his student. "I think Obito knew that, maybe that's why he did what he-"

"You're right sensei," Kakashi interrupted, desperately wanting to stop his Sensei's words. Any more comfort and he was sure to break down. Breaking down was not an option to the young shinobi. He wiped the tear stain from his face, something completely foreign to the White Fang's son. The youth stood from his spot, "Let's go…we have a mission to complete."

"Kakashi…You and Rin should go back to the village," The Yellow Flash said, the deep prickling of fear setting into his system. The fear that he would lose his other two students, "You've both been through enough, go home and rest."

"I refuse," Kakashi replied, "I'm completing this mission at all costs, for Obito's sake, backing out now would be like we're mocking his death," When silence rang out the youth continued, "Obito completed my Jutsu, it's only fair I complete the mission that all of us set out to do."

The Jounin nodded his approval, glad that the semblances of his student, both of his students, were returning to normal.

"You're right," chimed in another voice.

"I'm glad you agree Rin," Kakashi said to the Kunoichi who appeared next to him and their Sensei, "Because I'd have taken you with me if you had refused,"

The blond Jounin stared at his charge once again, confused…needless to say that this was not the Kakashi he was used to.

"I made a promise," Kakashi answered to the glare, "I will complete all the missions given to me," _And I'll never lose another friend again._ The youth declared to his team, and to himself as he started to march into the forest, hell bent on doing what his mind had stated, "That's a promise of a lifetime."

x

The two shinobi waited patiently in their Hokage's office. One standing in perfect attention, the years of strict tutelage bringing him to do what came naturally. Sometimes it was more out of habit than it was anything else. The young Chuunin could not even begin to think of slouching in the presence of others. Serving in front of the Sandaime had that effect on people.

The other shinobi; however, stood slacked. Shoulders crouched, his appearance stating nothing about him. Years of training spent being on guard, often because his life depended on such vigilance. Sometimes it was nice to relax. However being summoned by your ninja leader at such a late hour meant something was in store for you. And most likely they were a potentially dangerous brand of something. So, relaxing was out of the question for the Jounin Sensei.

Relaxing being out of the question because of the circumstances that Kakashi was finding himself under. Normally a meeting at this time indicated a high level mission, a mission that could not wait to be properly filed and issued to the masses. These types of situations were normal for the Copy-ninja. However, there was another shinobi involved in the current circumstances. Said shinobi being Umino Iruka.

The gray haired man looked over at his fellow villager, noticing the tense nerves of the other. This was probably the first time Iruka was summoned to the new Hokage at this late of an hour. What with the rigid state he carried himself, the steeled reserves in his brown eyes, and the intense calm he was trying to project out of his expression. Everything about the Chuunin teacher screamed that he was nervousness. How could Kakashi not feel worried for his comrade?

_Plus Naruto would kill me if I ever let anything happen to Iruka while he was in my care._ Kakashi added to himself silently.

A few moments later the Godaime of Konoha silently entered her office, quickly followed by her assistant.

"I'm sorry about calling you two in at this hour," The blond said as she seated herself in her desk chair, "But recent news has come to my attention, and withholding this from our allies could prove very devastating for our village." She said mono toned, as if this were nothing more than an idle chat with someone she had not seen in a long time.

She gave her assistant a small nod, and at that the dark haired woman placed a scroll taken from her pouch onto the Godaime's desk.

"I need you both to deliver this scroll to one of our fellow Konoha shinobi," She continued, "The problem is that we have no idea where this particular person is."

"Tsunade, I don't mean to be rude," Iruka said, trying to be as polite as possible, rumors of their leaders temper was a legend in itself. "But what could I possibly contribute to this mission, I'm a teacher…not a tracker," The Chuunin stated simply.

"Yes, usually we would have sent someone else like Kakashi," Her eyes picked up a surprisingly delighted smirk as she paused, "However the ninja you will be tracking is highly unusual, in fact he's the maverick of all ninjas, and that's putting it lightly," She said, her plotting grin becoming more and more evident.

Under such a grin, Iruka did all he could to not gulp his fears. While Kakashi just scoffed at the implications. _Underneath the underneath, how ridiculous._

"The reason why the village is sending the both of you on this mission, besides the obvious level of your skills," She continued smirking, aiming the last statement at Kakashi, whose only reaction was to roll his eyes, "Is because you both know this ninja like no other in this village." She said happily.

"Huh?" Iruka stared dumbfounded at the older woman. "Who would Kakashi and myself both know that well? We barely know each other at all…"

"You're not serious are you?" Kakashi asked, his eye turning into his trademark smile, after all, he couldn't bring himself to laugh at the naive Chuunin.

That however did not stop the Hokage from gagging on her laughter, "Tsunada-sama!" Her polite assistant said in a scolding voice.

"I can't help it Shizune," She said as she finally stifled her mirth, "It's obvious where this ninja gets his lack of common sense from," Tsunade said with a grin.

"Alright, now that we know of the mission," Kakashi said, only to save his new team mate from any more embarrassment, "Do you know where Naruto and Jiraiya traveled last?"

Irukas' eyes widened with understanding, "You mean we're being…you're not joking are you?" He questioned his leader, his eyes already lighting up at the opportunity at hand.

"I mean every word I've said so far, However…" She trailed off, the serious edge taking hold in the Hokage's voice, the voice of a leader, "It is imperative that you get this scroll to those two, this is an S classed mission and I expect nothing else but succeeding from the two of you."

"I agree," Said Kakashi, "But there's only one thing missing, we need a third member."

"Yes, I've had someone in mind for this mission, seeing that the information in this scroll could cause you all complications during travel, a medical ninja might be the best option for a third, and-"

"And, with that being said," Kakashi interrupted as he, ignoring the death glare from said interrupted Hokage, cocked his head up to glare at an offending piece of ceiling, "You can come out of your Genjutsu Sakura."

"Sakura?" The other three adults in the room exclaimed as an embarrassed teenage girl with pink hair lowered her jutsu.

"I thought I was careful with my chakra concealment too," She said guiltily as she dropped to the floor, her now long hair falling into place. "How long did you know Kakash-Sensei?" She asked with the informal name of her teacher.

"Ever since you entered the room with Tsunade," _Although guessing from the old bats expression, she had no idea her apprentice was spying._ He thought happily, "Normally I probably wouldn't have noticed that level of concealment mixed with your Genjutsu skills. However, you are, or were, my student after all," Kakashi turned his happy eye grin to his now blushing student, "I could sense your chakra from a mile away, no matter how concealed it is."

"I see," The teenage girl said, beaming at her teacher, "I don't know if I should feel special, or scared," Sakura said with a small giggle.

Kakashi, being the ever observant person that he is, moved to whisper into the girl's ear, "I don't think you should be laughing at this moment," he said as he pointed to a now fuming Hokage.

"How long were you listening?" Tsunade scathed out, "And I don't just mean the conversation in this office."

Sakura gave a small yelp, which showed a lot about her character because most would be pleading for their lives at this point, "Um…I only started tailing you after I saw you walking here from the academy, I'm sorry Sensei…I got curious," she said, trying not to further infuriate her master.

_Oh my Crackers! Tsunade-Sensei is going to kill me!_ Inner Sakura raged, while the outer Sakura whimpered and retreated into the shadow of the Copy-Nin.

Iruka and Shizune stared at the Sensei's and student before them, their actions earning a sweat drop for their determination.

"Well now that we've established that Sakura has gained the skills necessary for spying," Kakashi said as he proudly and affectionately messed with her hair, and yes Kakashi did that for his female student too, "Can we get onto business?"

"Yes, we still have to decide a third member for this mission Tsunade-Sama," Shizune agreed.

"I think we've found our third member already," Kakashi beamed as he pointed to Sakura at the blank glares he was receiving.

"Me!" Sakura all but screeched in surprise.

Never had she gotten this much attention from her Jounin-Sensei. She knew it wasn't his fault that he didn't have much to work with because she had mastered the basics way before meeting him. So, she never held it against the gray haired man for paying more attention to her team mates. Everyone had to master the basics before moving on to the advanced techniques, it was the way of teamwork, every moving at the same pace. However by the time her two teammates had mastered the basics, or never in Narutos' case, they had started to go their separate ways.

Still the recognition she was getting from Kakashi was almost overwhelming, she would have cried for joy if she was sure no one could see. She had longed to be recognized by her Sensei.

As for the reasons why Kakashi was being so affectionate, could you blame a guy for missing his team, especially since he had basically lost his whole team to stronger ninjas.

"I highly doubt Sakura is ready for a mission of this level Kakashi," Tsunade said sternly.

"I, of course disagree," The Copy-Nin retaliated, "Sakura was on my team after all, I can tell how hard she's been training with you, plus she knows Naruto just as well as I or Iruka," He stopped and gave Tsunade his trademark grin, causing everyone else in the room to break in a sweat, "Also, if you were her master for two years, I wouldn't put it past you to teach her medical-jutsu."

Tsunade resisted the urge to slam her fist into the Copy-Nin's face, "Fine have it your way," She said through gritted teeth, "I'm retiring for the night, Shizune can fill you in on the rest of the mission specs." Tsunade said as she exited the room. Which was code for, "I'm done dealing with you lot, now that I have a head ache, I'm going to go get some strong Sake."

"That…could have gone better," Iruka squeaked out, although his heart was beating hard. The prospects of the mission raised his spirits.

x

A/N: Concerning the way how I addressed suffixes for this fic. I intentionally left out the constant spam of –san, -chan, etc. Why? It's because I am not from Japan, so I just feel weird adding it. In other words, I don't go out calling people "name-chan." So I left it out.

Granted I've added certain phrases because it feels appropriate. A student from the Naruto universe not calling their teacher Sensei is just wrong. If this bothers you, I'm sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters, although I wish I did.

Rating: M for mature content.

**Forgotten Memoirs – Departures**

I'll Miss You.

Was the last thing he said to his father, then everything fell to pieces…

A seven year old walked quietly in the early morning, though one could be forgiven for mistaking the boys age. The black mask, not only carefully concealing the lower half of his face, it also served to disorient ones view of him. Anyone could mistake the youngest Chuunin in Konoha to be a very small ten year old, or a very large five year old.

Currently Hatake Kakashi was on his way to meet his overly hyper Sensei. Every morning since becoming a Genin had the masked boy waking up at the crack of dawn. From there his Sensei would either train him, or they would have to perform some mediocre tasks. Such tasks consisting of pulling weeds in an old woman's garden, which the child loathed, or to his favorite mission to date, taking dogs for a walk.

Most mornings the boy merely wanted to train. Although some times the training would become tiresome for the child, his Sensei often had him performing chakra and stamina exercises. Due to his young age, the boy had trouble keeping up with others in terms of drawn out battles.

"Even if you can perform a Jounin ranked Ninjutsu, it won't matter if you collapse from exhaustion the next second Kakashi," His sensei had said to him one day in response to the young boys' complaints.

So, from that day foreword Kakashi never complained about a training exercise being boring. He had learned his lesson about questioning his Sensei, in that you'd get embarrassed off your pants if you went against him. Just ask the boy next door who had been picking on the Chuunin.

Kakashi cringed at the memory of seeing the fourteen year old crying and running home after his Sensei was through humiliating his neighbor. Although in retrospective, Kakashi would have done a lot worst if his Sensei hadn't gotten there first.

Coming upon their usual meeting place, a small bridge that lead to the village entrance, Kakashi sighed as his Sensei had yet to arrive. Kakashi was usually earlier than his Sensei, due to his father insisting punctuality and no rule breaking. Being the dutiful son that he was, in risk of being severally punished, Kakashi had always done all that he could to follow the rules. A side effect of this was that he would be so early to schedualed meetings, not even the Hokage would be there before him.

Simply put, Kakashi would be bored out of his young mind while waiting for others to show up.

Kakashi, being one to never waste his time, decided to start on his training. The boy jumped onto the bridge's railing and quickly gathered his chakra to the soles of his feet. Once he had felt that he had the sufficient amount of chakra, he walked the bridge. One would never see this however, because Kakashi was currently walking the underside of the bridge.

This exercise was too easy of course, the young boy scoffed because he'd been tree walking since he could crawl. Deciding to take one more step, the boy created several Kage Bushin replicas of himself. Trying to control the amount of chakra he was putting into each clone, just the way his Sensei had taught him.

"Using too little chakra would result in no clones at all, and using too much would result in wiping out your chakra reserves," His Sensei explained to him when he had taught him the Jutsu. Little did his Sensei know was that the young boy practiced the jutsu to exhaustion at home every day.

So when four more Kakashi's appeared underneath the bridge, the young boy couldn't help but grin. Surely his Sensei would recognize how much progress he was making.

The boys' concentration, and inner praising, was so great that the appearance of his Sensei went unnoticed. The Jounin, figuring out where his student was hiding by following the presence of the boys overwhelming chakra, decided to scare the boy a little.

Kakashi's limited chakra did nothing to hide the fact that it was blinding to the people who knew how to look for it. That being said, his Sensei decided that scaring the wits out of his student would be the best way for the boy to learn how to hide his chakra.

The blond man did a few hand seals, creating four copies of himself and Henge'ing them to look like Hidden Mist ninja's, and promptly stated to himself, _let the torture begin!_

Kakashi was happily smiling for his small achievement. Then all four of his clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Cursing his carelessness, Kakashi looked for the source of the kunai that had appeared out of no where to destroy his Jutsu. Discovering his attackers in the guise of five unknown shinobi, each marked with the crest of the Mist ninja. Each smirking at him as they hovered on the river's flowing water.

"Who are you?" Kakashi growled under his breath.

"Is this all the great Konoha has to offer to guard its village?" His disguised teacher scoffed, "And here we thought we'd have to work to actually kill the patrols."

Kakashi tensed at the word that signified that these intruders were aiming for death. "I warn you, leave Konoha and I won't have to beat you all till your snot runs through your eyes!"

_That was a rather creative jibe_, _must be all those books he keeps reading_. His Sensei mused to himself, "And what is one whiney brat going to do about five grown ninja?" The "Mist" shinobi countered.

Kakashi smirked while he gathered his chakra to his chest, forming the seal of the tiger at the last second as he released his technique, "Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" the boy shouted as a fireball erupted from the point of his finger tips which were near his masked face.

_He gathered chakra to his finger tips to act as the fire starter to avoid burning his mask off_, his Sensei commended while dodging the rain of fire directed as him. When he was finally able to make sure that none of his clothes had scorch marks, the blond Jounin discovered that the boy had escaped, "Damn brat and his diversionary tactics," The Sensei grumbled.

Kakashi was on a full sprint to the guard tower, knowing better than to take on five ninjas by himself. He hadn't expected for the fire jutsu to hold the Mist ninja off for very long, however he didn't expected them to reappear right in front of him in a matter of seconds.

"You're going to pay for that brat," One of the ninja's mused as Kakashi skidded to a stop in front of the group.

_These men are too strong_, Kakashi's analytical mind already coming to the conclusion that was apparent on the intruders faces.

None of his current Jutsu's would do him any good here, so there were only a few more bets left to try. Bluff and hope they were stupid enough to believe it, or fight and die an honorable death for his village.

Kakashi gathered his courage and his chakra. The boy raced towards the older men, propelling at them with a chakra induced leap, and succeeded…

…In getting slapped away like a rag doll.

_That was stupid_, Kakashi and his Sensei simultaneously thought.

On to the next option.

"If you people don't stand down and leave…" Kakashi growled as he got back onto his feet.

"Yes, yes we know, you'll beat us till our eyes bleed snot," One of the ninja's snorted, "Some how I don't see that happening."

"Actually," Kakashi scoffed, his mind racing for new possibilities to get himself out of this mess, "My father will kill you all," Kakashi said with such certainty that his words shocked the blond Jounin.

"Don't you know kid," One of the disguised clones started, "Momma boys like you die on the field first!"

Kakashi was about to reply to that taunt when the man who was insulting him exploded to in a torrent of smoke.

"What the!" One of the other men shouted as he too was turned to smoke.

Kakashi stared in horror as he heard and felt something loud crash behind him.

Anger seeped from the person behind him in waves, pure hatred rolling over Kakashi in sickening waves. The murderous aura scaring the young child to his core, never had he felt such a raw killing intent before.

The young boy gave a shudder, even if the person behind him had taken out the enemy ninja, he was scared of someone radiating with such a terrible quality. Turning to find the identity of the one who saved him nearly gave Kakashi a heart attack, because it was the man who he admired the most, even more than his Sensei. That man was Konoha's White Fang, Kakashi's father.

"Kakashi," His father breathed quietly, "Thank you for holding these men off, let me handle it from here," The murderous intent doubled in power, which did nothing but scare the shit out of the blond Jounin. The elder Hatake smirked behind his black mask as he cracked each of his knuckles, a manic grin appearing on his visage.

"Um…wait a minute-" He tried to protest, but one of the two remaining clones was ripped apart so fast it was invisible to the naked ye. _Oh crap! He's pissed off._

"I heard you call my son a Momma's boy," The silver haired man said quietly, sparing his child a glance before taking out the remaining clone with a flick of a kunai, "I regret to inform you that I'm the only parent left to care for him."

Kakashi stared at the horrified expression on the intruders face, noticing that it looked strangely like his Sensei's face.

"Father! Wait!" His quick mind coming up with what had transpired, "This is a mistake-" He tried but was interrupted by the elder Hatake.

"There's no need for explaining Kakashi, just stay quiet and watch carefully," And watch the young boy did.

He watched the disguised Mist ninja blanch several shades as his father approached, watched for a painful ten minutes as his father beat the living hell out of his Sensei, watched with relief as the his father finally stopped pounding his Sensei's cranium in as the Jounin's Henge dispelled, and watched as his father blanched more than his already pale skin would allow.

After the blond Jounin recovered enough of his wits to explain that he was merely training his student, the elder Hatake had enough grace to apologize.

"Still, that is no way to train a subordinate," The White Fang said scathingly to the other Jounin.

"Sakumo, I understand where you're coming from, but you and I both know that Kakashi is different than other students," The blond said, trying to avoid another beating from the other man, "Kakashi requires hands on experience or he'll never be able to fully grasp his lessons."

Sakumo smacked the younger man on the head, "That does not mean you attack him disguised as enemy ninja!" The older man seethed, "Don't think just because your Sensei and I go way back that I won't take it easy on you…"

Kakashi started tuning his father and his sensei's argument out of his conscious brain. Something told the boy that if he heard his father lecturing his Sensei, he'd lose all respect for his teacher.

"…And further more!" His father continued, "If you do anything like this again, I'll rip your spleen out!"

With the deafening threat, this usually signaled that his father was done lecturing. Kakashi mentally removed the imaginary ear plugs in his brain.

"Sensei, are you okay?" Kakashi asked a little worried for his teacher.

"Yeah, I'm fine," The Jounin waved off his pain a little, for what little pride he had left. _The old freaking fart head bastard doesn't hit that hard_, he convinced himself, even as his brain was starting to turn into a nicely sized migraine.

"Kakashi, I was on my way to the bridge to catch you before you went training," His father said suddenly, going to his son and placing a large hand on the boy's shoulder.

Kakashi visibly slumped at his father's actions, "You're going away again aren't you?"

The one who would eventually become Hogake watched as his student tried his best to hide his obvious disappointment, the young child's emotions only becoming a problem when his remaining parent went away on missions. He mentally reprimanded himself for calling his student a Momma's boy.

"Alright, Do your best father," The young boy said as he grinned, he wasn't sure if his dad saw it or not, but he went on, "I'll miss you," he said quietly. It was the closest thing the boy had said to his father that resembled those three words that strikes emotion whenever it's used.

I love you, was heard all the same by the elder Hatake.

Sakumo gave his son a quick hug, and Kakashi hugged back. "I'll be back soon," Father said to his son. Kakashi nodded and watched as the older man made his escape.

"Let's go training," The Jounin said soberly, not used to seeing so much emotion out of his student or his student's father.

Kakashi, Sakumo, and the Jounin-Sensei never realized that Kakashi was at the beginning of the end, the end of the semblance of his childhood.

X

The source of light in a long tunnel was possessed by a youth. His skin made translucent like moonlight from the lack of sun. Home was the darkness now, the boy living and thriving in this void like environment.

The obsidian hate that had transformed into his life could be solely blamed on the slaughter of his clan. No one could guess how the youngest Uchiha would have turned out, had his brother, Itachi, not murdered his family in his steep to gain.

However fate had happened and Sasuke now resided with one of Konoha's most hated missing-nins, his current Sensei, Orochimaru. If that's what you could call their relationship.

Sasuke's former Sensei was in Konoha, the village which he was no longer tied to. He knew his place was with the Sound, no matter how much he wanted to see his former friends. This was all for power, and he would not get it from any other outlet except from Orochimaru.

Tsunade was a healer, and the Hogake. That woman would have no time to train a Genin to kill his older brother. Jiraiya was so much like Naruto, he and Sasuke would never get any training done. As if that old goat would give him any training in the first place. Then there was Kakashi-Sensei.

The Sharingan user had given a lot to Sasuke, and the boy was ever grateful for it. Sasuke knew that his former Sensei had given him special treatment, saying stupid things like "He reminds me of myself when I was his age."

Such sentiment was useless to the Uchiha. He didn't need it, and he did not want it. He only wanted power. And despite how skilled the Konoha Jounin was, Sasuke felt that he would never attain the level of power to kill his brother if he stayed in Konoha's care.

Which was fine for Sasuke, he was a natural born loner. He wouldn't need anyone for anything. And once he was done sucking the power he needed from Orochimaru, the boy would either leave peacefully or kill the old man. Then kill his brother. Those were the only things concerning the raven haired boy.

Even still, as he gained skills and went through teachings from the snake like man. Sasuke could never bring himself to actually call the man Sensei, or master. No one would be his master.

It was with that reasoning that Sasuke casually strolled into Orochimaru's meeting room late, with a smug look on his face as he turned to the pale man. "So what crap Jutsu are you teaching me today?"

"Hmmm," Orochimaru pondered, used to his next body's attitude, "I've taught you a lot already in these past two years, so much that you probably won't need training in learning the Jutsu's, it's more about testing your stamina at this point," The old man stated softly. As if he were training the brat carefully, which he was. After all, the boy's body would become his own one day.

"We've been over this old man, you just give me power, and I'll do the rest." The boy said with a glare.

"There is one Jutsu I have yet to teach you."

"And what Jutsu is that?" Questioned Sasuke, trying to hide the excitement in his voice.

"It's the technique I used to kill the Sandaime of our beloved Konoha," Orochimaru burst out in laughter as Sasuke's eyes bulged from his sockets, "And we're going to test this technique while on a mission."

"So, mission and training at the same time," Sasuke muttered, "You sound excited,"

"Of course I am," Said with a glare in his eyes, "Because we're going to use it to kill the ties that still bind you to Konoha."

X

"And how would reading books automatically make me a pervert?" Kakashi said rather grumpily to his traveling companion, the early morning hours not doing anything to brighten his day.

"For one, the adult's only material stamp on the back of the cover, second, you read that book over and over," The other man said loudly, "Only perverts have to read the same adult book five-hundred times to get their jollies!"

"So says the stalker who watches other people read their books!" Kakashi countered. Iruka visibly showed that he was insulted in the form of a deep blush on his face, which only made Kakashi want to insult the Chuunin even more.

"Of course I noticed that you're reading the same book Kakashi," the teacher said, trying to save himself some embarrassment, "You read it in public every day!"

"Is that your excuse for being a stalker?" Kakashi dead panned.

"You're such a pervert!" Iruka yelled, his blush deepening.

Stillness came over the group, and Sakura let out a sigh of relief. The other two had been going back and forth ever since they left Konoha.

"Other pervert," Kakashi muttered under his breath.

Sakura sighed once more as Kakashi and Iruka continued their verbal tug of war.

_This is going to be a long mission..._ Sakura thought in a small pathetic voice, wishing the two old men would die on the spot.

--------------

A/N: This one took awhile to write, but I got it done. I'm currently trying to stick with a one week update schedule. Hopefully I can deliver it.

Concerning the lack of Yodaime's name. Since it has not been revealed in the anime or manga, I have decided to not use it in this fic. So Sensei it is! lol

Anyway, any type of feedback is greatly appreciated. Till next time.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I'd be able to speak fluent Japanese.

Rated: M, but maybe I should change that till later chapters?

A/N: I'm late on this, opps? Beginning of semester is nuts, heh, I'll try harder from now on.

Forgotten Memoirs – Rule Breakers

"Those in the ninja world who break the rules and regulations are called trash, but those who don't care about their companions are even worse trash."

The first time Hatake Sakumo failed a mission was to save the lives of his teammates.

What drove him to do so, not even Sakumo could answer that. The truth was Hatake had loathed his team the moment he met them. Not only did he dislike his teammates for who they were, he also hated the fact that he was filling in for their original team leader. How could Konoha expect the great White Fang to work with such incompetent idiots? He had asked himself in the first few moments in his teams' introduction. While traveling Sakumo had questioned how his teammates ever became Shinobi in the first place.

The medical expert on his team had one strike against the elder Hatake before the two had even met. Sakumo had looked at both of his teammates records, and in his quest to for information, he had discovered that this medical ninja was a rule breaker. However what really stood out was a mission in which the healer had rescued a enemy ninja's son. What made it worse was that the boy was to become a Konoha Genin. Who knew what possible threats this could create in the future, was the reasoning behind Sakumo's initial dislike.

Now Sakumo hated the Medical expert for one sole reason, his personality. A loud and boisterous man in general, who had an annoying habit of almost getting himself killed while walking. No one would have guessed that the man with no respect for others could perform brain surgery on the spot. Hatake, in all earnest, just thought the man was an idiot.

The third member of his team was a middle aged woman. Sakumo could have cared less if she dropped off of the face of the earth. Not only did she seem incapable of fighting, but she fawned over her leader with no insight to his discomfort. Honestly, what kind of woman flirts with a single father, who not only never talked, but threw death glares that would kill bears with one glance?

However, when both of his teammates were captured by the enemy ninjas. Sakumo had to make a decision. Rescue his useless team, or resume his mission solo.

Sakumo had made his decision and he had broken the rules for it. Before the village had discovered that the failed mission had costed the Fire nation gravely. No one had blamed Sakumo for his actions. Until the Daimyo of the Fire nation reprimanded Hatake personally, luckily for the Daimyo, the Sandaime had stopped Sakumo's rage.

The scorning of Hatake Sakumo started slow. Rage was trickled in from the neighboring villages of the Fire country, so much that he was forced to stay in Konoha. Thus prompting the Konoha citizens to wonder why their best shinobi was not being used. Their loved ones returned to them in the form of dog tags, while Hatake stayed in his home village being useless, it was an insult. Hatake should have died in their place.

The people who he saved then turned their hatred on the White Fang. They were grateful for their lives; however, feeling the backlash from their saviors' scorning was worse than living. Suffering through the hatred of others, especially from the village that they loved, was a fate worse than death. So they reprimanded Sakumo, making it easier for them to go on with their lives.

"I never asked you to save my life Hatake!" The medical ninja had said in public.

"You're such a loser Sakumo, no wonder you couldn't differentiate the importance of the mission and the lives of your team," The Kunoichi added.

In another time, Sakumo's actions would have lead him on a different path. But breaking the rules during a war was unacceptable. In the end he was left with little on his mind but guilt. There was no time for missions, himself, or his son.

This was the consequence of breaking the rules.

X

Iruka gave a small sigh as he sat down to kindle the sparks of the small camp fire to stay alive. The day had been exhausting and the responsibility could be blamed on the silver haired Jounin that was his companion. They had argued the whole walking distance. Which surprised Iruka, one would think that a high ranking Jounin would be well…more mature.

Such wasn't the case for Hatake Kakashi.

The man had to keep reading his perverted book. No matter how hard the Chuunin tried to get Kakashi to let go of the adult book, Hatake dodged everything. Apparently a Jounins' skill was so top notch not even naked women, courtesy of the Sexy no Jutsu, could beat them.

What's worse is that Kakashi had started making fun of the Chuunin once he had used Naruto's trademark technique. Giving him lecherous looks, and asking him to perform the jutsu again. Iruka was lead to believe that Kakashi had chosen to forget the fact that they were both men, even with that stupid Genjutsu in place.

There was another thing about today that made it bad for the Chuunin. Turns out that Sakura was one of those 'no nonsense' types of people. Even more so than Iruka, and he was a teacher at that. At the end of the day, the girl was so frustrated with both of her senseis that she was radiating murder. It was kind of scary.

Kakashi finished putting up the tents when he realized that there were only two packed, "Have you two seen the other tent?"

"What other tent?" Sakura answered grumpily, "You both are grown men, so why pack an extra tent?"

"True enough," Iruka said, still stabbing at the camp fire to get more heat out of it, "It's not like I'd do anything perverted."

"What are you implying?" Kakashi said half heartedly.

"That you're a pervert."

"You thought about the perverted actions, not me…"

"Both of you shut up already!" Sakura yelled, her inner self finally breaking out of its restraints, "I've had enough of your crap for one day!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, not really shocked by the outburst. Actually he was waiting for her to explode. Could he help it if he liked torturing his students? Iruka, however, was visibly paling.

"Sakura…calm down, we'll stay quiet," Iruka said hastily.

"You had better!" She shouted one more time before retiring to her tent.

Moments passed, neither of the adults wanting to further infuriate the teenager who just retired to her tent. The whole forest seemed to have stopped its activities once the pink haired girl started yelling at the top of her lung capacity. Then, one to always be a trendsetter, Kakashi snorted. And before Iruka could protest, the silver haired man had burst out laughing. Iruka would have been disturbed by this display of emotion out of Kakashi if he too hadn't started laughing.

"I've missed this," Kakashi said absent mindedly, once his laughter had died down.

Kakashi's statement effectively cut off Iruka's humor, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing…" The jounin said, cursing the slip.

"You might as well get it off your chest Kakashi,"

Kakashi remained silent for awhile before he stood up and left the camp sight. Iruka was about to give up and retire to the tent when Kakashi came back with some fire wood.

"I've come to realize how much I have missed Sakura," Kakashi quietly explained as he tossed the wood into the fire, "It's been awhile, since I've been anywhere near my team," Kakashi could feel his cheeks start to glow with embarrassment and thanked his clan for wearing masks, "I forgot how much fun it was to thoroughly disgruntle them…or in this case one of them."

Iruka hummed his response, not sure on how to reply. It's true he was a teacher, but he never really spent time with his students outside of the classroom. The only student he really spent time with was Naruto. Bringing up the sunny haired boy wouldn't bring comforting thoughts to Kakashi or himself.

"I tried not to get attached to them," The older man sighed tiredly, "Yet those three wormed their ways into my life. Now that they are no longer my students, it's nice to have one of them back."

"I'm sure Sakura feels the same way Kakashi," The Chuunin said, hoping that the Jounin wouldn't get depressed on him again. Like the many times he had when they would converse on his team.

"Sometimes I wish I could be more like my father." Iruka raised his eyebrows questioningly, "I don't really remember much about him…he um…"

"Passed away when you were young too?" Kakashi nodded.

"What I do remember about him was that he never got attached to anything or anyone. At my mothers' funeral his expression was, how can I say this," Kakashi paused, rubbing his chin in thought, "It was like he didn't care. I remember saying to myself that I wanted to be just like him, to show no one that I was weak. I think that was the last day I actually cried." Kakashi left out the crying on Obito's eye part. The Sharigan crying didn't count to the Jounin. "Pathetic, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't say that it's pathetic to want to be more like your father," _Although why someone would want to be more like their drone like parent is beyond me_, Iruka added silently. "Anyway, we should get on to planning on what we're going to do about this mission. We only know the area that Naruto and Jiraiya were last, besides that we've got nothing to go on."

"I've been thinking about that," Kakashi said as he pulled out a map, "But we'll be heading in a different direction," He said as he pointed to a neighboring country, "I know for a fact that Jiraiya has contacts in this city."

"And how do you know that?" The skepticism was ignored by the Copy-Ninja as he pulled out his porn, "Kakashi! Now is not the time for your perverted hobbies!"

Kakashi continued to ignore accusations of impurity and immaturity as he calmly opened his Icha Icha Paradise to the back of the book, where Jiraiya had the stuck up attitude to put an Authors Page. "This is why,"

At first Iruka blanched at the thought of reading the smut, but then he saw a picture of the legendary Sannin himself, "Jiraiya is…"

"Yep, he's the author of the Icha Icha series, and the place where we are heading is where he produces it. I'm betting that he has a monthly deadline coming up soon, so this will be our best bet."

Kakashi grinned under his mask triumphantly when Iruka realized that he was not just fooling around, "You're very cocky…do you know that?"

"Yeah, it's one of my endearing traits," Kakashi winked, which made Iruka blush.

"Let's go to bed already…" Iruka all but scrambled out of his seat in an attempt to hide his blushing, and Kakashi couldn't help but grin more.

X

"This technique requires a huge amount of power and control, and yet here you are with no chakra left," Orochimaru couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the sight in front of him.

Sasuke had tried to skip steps on performing the Jutsu that would kill the people closest to him. Really, one would think that the boy was eager to kill the people whom he considered friends. Not known to Orochimaru, Sasuke was simply a perfectionist. No matter what the Jutsu was used for, he would learn to do it perfectly.

"Shut up and tell me how to do this correctly."

"Now, now," Orochimaru teased, "You've wiped out your chakra reserves. We'll have to attack them in a different way now that you'll have to recover for a bit." Sasuke groaned, and Orochimaru laughed again.

X

"Kakashi! Your leg is on my chest!" Iruka exclaimed in the middle of the night.

"Can I help it if this tent is too small?" Kakashi whispered, he would have yelled, but it was against his personality, "Besides, I kind of like being this close to you." The Jounin could feel Iruka blushing, and he would have laughed if he didn't think it was rude.

After a few moments of stuttering Iruka finally got the senses back in him, "Shut up Hatake."

"Oh come now, it's not like you haven't been this close to another man before."

"Like you would know anything about my dealings with men, or women Kakashi."

"Never doubt a Hatake's source of information," Kakashi grinned as he got into a more comfortable position. In other words, Iruka had thrown the Kakashi's leg off of his body. The Jounin shifted until his face was even with the Chuunins', "You don't have to lie to me Iruka."

"Why would I have anything to lie about?" He asked the Jounin, more out of curiosity than anything else.

"I know you like me," Kakashi snickered as he felt another blush radiate from the Chuunin.

"I…I do not!"

"Whatever," Iruka sighed in relief, too bad Kakashi wasn't done, "Say Iruka, would you do the Sexy no Jutsu for me again?"

"I am not turning into a woman for you!" Iruka yelled as he raised his hand to knock the Jounin's cranium in.

"Who said I wanted you to do it as a woman?" Kakashi said right as Iruka's fist came within inches of his skull.

Iruka paused, shocked at what he heard. Hatake Kakashi was asking him to…"You're joking right?"

"…Maybe" Kakashi mused.

Iruka finished his striking motion and let the Jounin recover before going on, "You're such an asshole."

"Truthfully I wouldn't mind," Kakashi said with a low voice that Iruka recognized. Kakashi was being serious.

"Well…in that case, I…uh" Iruka stumbled on his words, his cheeks reddening again.

"So you'll do the Jutsu for me?" Kakashi coyly interrupted.

"Not until you take me out on a date!" Iruka huffed.

"Fine, we'll go on a date in the next town we stop in," Before Iruka could protest Kakashi gave Iruka a light kiss. Their lips barely grazed, in Kakashi's opinion. Yet Kakashi couldn't help but grin as he turned away from Iruka to go to bed.

However, Iruka had stopped dead in his tracks.

_I just sucked face with Hatake Kakashi_! His mind screamed and he quite literally fainted off to sleep.

_There are some advantages to breaking the rules after all, well…Iruka's rules._ Kakashi chuckled and tried to get some sleep. At least the day was looking up, although it was over.

A/N: yeah, I tried…heh, Feedback is greatly appreciated.


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